Quips

— Character: Therapist Suzanne Silver in the TV series Chance
Season 1, Episode 1, “The Summer of Love,” at about 41:00

“There are no victims. Only volunteers.”

— Character D in the TV series Chance
Season 1, Episode 2, “The Axiom of Choice” at about 4:38

“Be the still point in the turning world.”

— Character D in the TV series Chance
Season 1, Episode 5, “A Still Point in the Turning World” at about 5:50Produced by Fox21 Television Studios & distributed by hulu.com — 2016

If you want to fast —go alone.
If you want to far —go together.

— African Proverb

The thing that you take for granted,is something someone is praying for.

— anonymous

“An injustice against one person is an injustice against all people.”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“There are no sides . . . there's no Democrats and Republicans. There's only haves and have-nots.
“It's all gonna be done in any case. You might as well be on the side that gets you well-paid for your efforts.”

— Character Senator Charles F. Meachum in the feature film Shooter
Produced by Paramount Pictures — 2007

“The rich and the
powerful, they take what they want . . .”

— Character Nathan Ford in the TV series Leverage
Produced by Electric Entertainment — 2008-2012

“The greater the power, the greater the abuse.”

— Edmund Burke

“Behind every fortune is a crime.”

— Honoré de Balzac

“You people – journalists – think you're saving the world. You just make it harder to live in.”

— Character: Detective Inspector Alec Harding in the TV series Broadchurch
Produced by Kudos Film and Television — 2013-2015

“If G-d had meant us to vote,He would have given us candidates.”

— “more political subversion from Jim Hightower”

All acts performed in the world begin with imagination.*

— anonymous

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

— Albert Einstein

Today
is a gift, Yesterday is a wind at your
back.Tomorrow
is a promised hope.

— anonymous

“It is not the days in a life that count. It is the life in the days that count.”

“There are three types of people in this world –sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs.

“Now, some people prefer to believe that evil doesn't exist in
the world. And if it ever darkened their doorstep, they
wouldn't know how to protect themselves. Those are the
sheep.

“And then you got predators. They use violence to prey on
the weak. They're the wolves.

“And then there are those who've been blessed with the gift of
aggression and the overpowering need to protect the flock.
These men are a rare breed that live to confront the wolf.
They are the sheepdog.”

— Wayne Kyle
Chris Kyle's father in the film American Sniper (4 min, 50 sec)
Produced by Warner Bros. — 2014

Get involved . . .The world is run by those who show up.*

— anonymous

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a
revolutionary act.”

— George Orwell

“The
great enemy of truth is very often not the lie –
deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the
myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.

“Belief in myths allows the comfort of
opinion without the discomfort of thought.”

— spoken by President John F. Kennedy
as written by his speechwriters *

“Be tough,but not hard.”

— based on character Jada Roads's script line
TV Series Major Crimes
"Risk
Assessment," Season 2, episode 16
(DVD disc 4)

◦ G-d, grant me the wisdom to know the differencebetween what I can changeand what I cannot change.

◦ Then, grant me the courage to change what I can change,

◦ and the serenity to accept what I cannot change.

— based on the conventional Serenity Prayer
which is attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
American theologian
— as revised by Nathaniel Segal

“You've got to know when to hold 'em /Know when to fold 'em /Know when to walk away /And know when to run.
“You never count your money when you're sitting at the table.
“There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.”

Notes:

"When I, Nathaniel, lift up my eyes and see nature's beauty, I thank G-d, the Creator."
I don't know why I lifted up my eyes. I can't surmise that it began in my imagination.
I can't rule this out, either.

I can say, though, that my praying began after I saw, after I acted. The first action, lifting my eyes to look, was one act that began from an unknown previous act or state. The second action, actually seeing, began from looking upward. Did I really see because of my imagination? The third action, prayer, began when I had first learned to pray, or when prayer began to be on my tongue – to fluently begin and continue a prayer.

Concerning the states that bordered the South – Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia (which only became a state during the Civil War by breaking away from Virginia), Kentucky, and Missouri – Barney wrote, "It was here [in the Border South] that he [President Lincoln] was most likely to sanction military arrests and the closing down of pro-secessionist newspapers." (William L. Barney. 2001. The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford University Press, page 43)

I've already commented how I believe that President Lincoln was an imperial president and how he violated several tenets of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

“Signs of life — growth and creativity.” - “Growth and creativity are signs of life.” – This seems to me to be an accurate translation from the original Yiddish statement. I took liberty for the purpose of presentation.

To repeat an error is stupid - This is like the saying: "You fooled me once, shame on you. You fooled me twice, shame on me." I should have learned.

The world is run by those who show
up - This is not especially so. The world is run by people who have
power and money. Those with power acquire more money. Those with
money acquire more power.

These powerful people have the
controlling interest in the world and actually run the world.
However, they let ordinary people manage small corners of the
world. In these corners, those who show up make decisions that
others find themselves abiding by.

Sometimes, the powerful and rich are not
interested in these corners. What ordinary people do in these
small realms does not diminish power from the elites. At times,
the rich and powerful wish to create an illusion that people who
are under their rule have freedom.

Sometimes, the elites have simply
overlooked these pockets of freedom. If they discover that
ordinary people have been impinging on power or wealth that the
elites covet for themselves, these elites generally maneuver to
co-opt the activities of ordinary people.

spoken by
President John F. Kennedy - in a June 1962 Yale
University Commencement Address (Mark Shaw. The
Poison Patriarch: How the Betrayals of Joseph P. Kennedy
Caused the Assassination of JFK. New York: Skyhorse
Publishing, 2013, p. 179).

as written by
his speechwriters - Until I'm shown otherwise, I don't
believe that Kennedy was much of a thinker. Also, I'm not
convinced that he believed or lived by what he was saying
here. Anyway, he had speechwriters to give him a voice
for American citizens – and for the world – to
listen to.

I suggest that Theodore "Ted" Sorensen, Kennedy's primary speechwriter (as well as special counsel and adviser), wrote these words. It is also possible that Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Special Assistant to the President, wrote this speech.